True Crime: New York City

Overview

Ever since the initial introduction of Grand Theft Auto 3 for the Playstation 2, we have seen a countless number of games attempt to capture the same sort of "open ended" magic that Rockstar was able to brew up. Most of these games have been complete wash outs, carrying nothing overly exciting just bringing a very dense and non-exciting version of GTA III. Well one game was able to make a mark for itself and it was True Crime: Streets of LA, which managed to bring some new ideas to the GTA theme. Well now Luxoflux (the developers) are back and at it again this time in True Crime: New York City for the Playstation 2. So does this game manage to bring another great outing? Read our full review to find out!

Gameplay

Well let’s take the time right now to discuss the previous game True Crime Streets of LA, which was a very interesting twist on the GTA series. The whole idea of the game was to bring a sort of new martial arts view of the game, so a big positive that this game had was great hand to hand combat. This addition to the GTA style was a welcome one and one that I really enjoyed. The game had some problems with the story line and just not a great overall feel like GTA, but it definitely was good enough to warrant a sequel. So without further ado, let’s check out New York New York in True Crime style.

The story in NYC is much more involved than it was in the previous game, and this in turn pulls in one of the greater changes to this game. You end up playing as Marcus Reid, a character that is fathered by a true "gang banger". You have some thugs who try to kill you, but you manage to survive and take them all out. The game then takes a huge increase in time and you are now in uniform and this is where the game really gets going. I have to say that Luxoflux did such a better job with this game’s storyline, it was much more interesting and really kept the flow moving at a great pace. The story of course takes some interesting twists and turns, and I think fans of the previous game will really enjoy this new storyline.

So let’s talk about the gameplay, which similarly to the GTA series, you can expect the game to give a lot of time to do whatever you want. During your time traveling the streets of NYC, the city of course never sleeps, so there are always things to keep you occupied. This is of course a very nice feature that keeps side missions plentiful, and these missions range from normal every day crimes to street races. The nice thing about this is the game does a nice job of varying things up, and keeping you wondering what is to come next.

The game of course also has the main plot line missions that are obviously are a lot more complex and engaging then the everyday side missions. What unfortunately happens are there are some initial problems that go into these big missions, which range from non-exciting objectives, and then there are others that feel like you have done these things way too many times. It is unfortunate that the majority of these story missions aren’t all that exciting.

The actual gameplay in NYC is good; there have been some definite upgrades to the marital arts in the game. This means that the game first off flows much better in that category, and just feels a lot more complex. Handling guns has been changed around a bit as well, and works in a fashion that won’t give you a headache but also isn’t the most accurate system. The game just feels good all the way around and it is unfortunate that nothing about this game is great. I really had no problems with the gameplay, everything felt very smooth and very intriguing. But then again never did this game just jump out and me and say "wow what a great experience. So in the end, you can see that Luxoflux did a nice job with this game.

Graphics

Visually True Crime: NYC isn’t all that different from what we saw in LA a year ago. The visuals in NYC do show some improvements, especially in the environments, which is now more detailed compared to LA. The animation stays pretty consistent to what we saw in the previous game, which was still good with some occasional slow downs. The overall feel of the graphics in New York just feels good, nothing has been taken all that far but everything in this game gets the job down as well!

Fun Factor

True Crime: New York City is one of those games that in every area works very well but never does anything spectacular like we saw in the GTA series. Even then, I enjoyed my time with True Crime, and I especially found the hand-to-hand combat to be a very well developed portion of the game. The one thing I wish had been done better in NYC that would have helped is more engaging story missions. The story in the game works very well, but the missions that go along with it don’t do justice to the game.

Overall

With True Crime: New York City I saw a game that really had all the basics covered but all the extra things that take games like GTA over the top were unfortunately not available in this game. Is this still a game to check out? I would say, yes, as it has a lot of fun elements that if you liked the previous game or any GTA style game then New York City is definitely worth checking out.

Joel Szerlip

The owner and editor-in-chief of Darkstation.com. I've been apart of the website since 2002 and purchased the website in 2010. Owning and running Darkstation is a dream come true. I love video games and I love writing and talking about them even more.

Scarface: The World Is Yours

What you can expect out of Scarface is a great storyline with superb voice acting, along with a good solid open environment action experience set in the Scarface universe. Fans of the movie are really going to dig this game.

Total Overdose: A Gunslinger's Tale in Mexico

The story in the game is good, the action is good, but nothing in the game is ever better then good. If you enjoy the GTA style of gameplay and want to check out how that would feel in the Mexico setting, then try out Total Overdose. I recommend this as a solid rental, but nothing more.

True Crime: Streets of LA

With all of the hype and all of the questions regarding True Crimes, in the end it ends up being a fun and enjoyable game that I would recommend to anyone who has enjoyed the delights of GTA3. The game adds its own twists and turns, and even has some qualities that make this game have quite a bit more depth. If you need an action-packed fun ride, then I would definitely recommend True Crimes: Streets of LA.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

With all the new advancements with the addition of motorcycles, and helicopters this has to be one of the best games of all time. Which is why it receives the all mighty perfect score, and in my mind is (so far) the game of the year.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

The final product of GTA: Vice City Stories on the PS2 feels to me to much like a port than a solid console title. Also when you have the original Vice City and San Andreas offering up more elaborate sandbox experiences, it makes this game a bit tougher to sell. But if you have not played the handheld version, this title can be a decent choice to complete your GTA library.